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By no works of the law will anyone be saved. It is only by the righteousness of Christ to be received by faith. If all we hear is the law, we can't end up doing anything good. As a matter of fact, all we end up doing is sinning when we understand the text.
Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know we don't. When we understand the text, promote sound doctrine while exposing the faulty. Here's your host, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky.
I'm gonna do something pretty crazy this week. I'm gonna attempt to cover Romans chapter seven in one week. There are theologians and teachers who have invested many more weeks into an understanding of Romans chapter seven than I'm going to give this week.
But here's basically how this is gonna go. We're gonna start today with Romans chapter seven verses one through 12. And then tomorrow we're gonna look at the more controversial section of Romans chapter seven verses 13 through 25 and spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on that section looking at three different perspectives on how to understand the latter half of Romans chapter seven.
And I'll explain that again and in a little bit more detail when we get to that tomorrow. First of all today, let's be in Romans chapter seven and we will start in verse one. I'm gonna go through verse six.
We'll explain these things and then we'll pick up again in verse seven. So Romans chapter seven verse one. Or do you not know brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.
But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. And if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law having died to that which held us captive so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
So at the start of this chapter, Paul says, do you not know brothers, for I'm speaking to those who know the law since he's about to draw an example from the law of Moses that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.
Now, remember we talked previously in Romans chapter six how we are now dead to sin and alive in Christ. And Paul is gonna show here how the law arouses and awakens sin. It describes sin to us. It shows us what sin is because as he goes on, when we'll look at here in a little bit, I would not have known sin if it wasn't for the law that told me not to covet.
And it is by the law telling me that that I knew what it was like to covet. So the law both described our sin and it awakened sin. The rebellion that is within us because we still inhabit this flesh. There's this thing that awakens in us when we hear the law to want to break it, to wanna disobey it.
I think I gave this example as either last week or the week before. If you see a sign on a park bench that says, don't touch wet paint, what are you inclined to do? You wanna go over there and touch it because the sign told you not to.
You're walking down the sidewalk and you see a sign that says, don't walk on the grass. You were perfectly fine walking on the side of the sidewalk that you were on until you saw a sign that told you not to do it.
And now you wanna walk over there by the grass and maybe even sweep your foot through it and say, see, look, I'm not bothering anybody. I'm not doing anything wrong here. It's because having heard the law, it awakens in you arouses a desire to wanna break the law.
For me, it's pianos. When I see a piano that has a sign on it that says, do not play, I wanna go over there and play that piano and show people, look, there is nothing wrong with playing this instrument.
As a matter of fact, it's wrong to not play the instrument. It will go out of tune if you don't play it. And this is me thinking that I know better than the law that is set before me that is telling me not to play the piano.
And this is what we do when we sin. We claim that we know better than God when we do something that he has told us not to do. Oh yeah, well, your law is not good enough for me. I can do this and I am fine.
So the law arouses in us a desire to break the law, which is what Paul goes on to say here when he says, while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
When he opens up the chapter, he says the law is binding only on a person as long as he lives. And then he gives an example of that from the law of Moses. Now, I don't wanna go into detail on what is being described there in verses two and three, because trying to explain the law is not the point.
Paul is merely using an example to show how the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives. Likewise, my brothers, you have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive so that we may serve in a new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
So we're no longer bound by the law. We are alive in Christ and obedient to the spirit. And for a contrasting understanding of this, go back to Galatians chapter five and read again about the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the spirit.
Okay, now let's move on into verse seven. I'm gonna read through verse 12. What then shall we say, that the law is sin? By no means, yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, you shall not covet.
But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.
The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy and the commandment is holy and it is righteous and it is good.
So while Paul is talking about in the first six verses about the law awakening sin, he then brings up the contention that those who are his critics against his theology would raise based on the things that he is preaching.
They would say, well, the law is sin. That's what you're arguing for, Paul. And Paul goes, is that what I'm saying? No, my Genoita, by no means. Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.
For the law, again, as we just talked about, describes what sin is. And it also arouses those passions that are within us. We also read this in Romans 3, verses 19 and 20. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be accountable to God.
For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin. We've seen Paul talk about this earlier in Romans and here he is expounding upon the theology even more.
I found out what it was like to covet when the law told me not to covet. Suddenly I realized, well, I'm guilty of that sin. And it also awakened in me a desire to do that sin. Sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.
For apart from the law, sin lies dead. Now don't be confused by that statement. It does not mean that until we heard the law, we weren't sinners. All it meant was that sin was there in us. It was just lying dormant, but that was the attitude of our hearts.
We just didn't realize we were that far from God and we were sinning from the inside out until the law came in and told us not to do this. And suddenly it was like, I gotta go do that because the law told me not to.
So rebellion awakens inside our hearts and that sin that had always been there suddenly becomes manifest. Now you can see it on the outside, though it has always been there on the inside. So this is not, we should never get the impression by the statement, apart from the law, sin lies dead.
We should never get this idea that a person would be just fine if you would not introduce them to the 10 commandments. And then by teaching them the 10 commandments, then they become sinners. No, no, no, no, no.
We were sinning long before that. We had just not transgressed the law because we had not yet heard it. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. In other words, I died all the more because we were already dead in our sins and our transgressions.
We continued to disobey the law and became more dead. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me for sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it kill me.
And then in verse 12, so the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good because this is the contrast. I am the sinner, the law is good. The law is not doing anything wrong. I'm the one doing something wrong because I cannot keep the law.
The law shows me perfection. It shows me the righteous character of God. It shows me his holy standard. And it makes me realize that I can't live up to that. And so we need a resolution to the law and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul lays out the law in the first three chapters of Romans and then gives the resolution with the presentation of the gospel starting in verse 21. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.
The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
That is the gospel resolution to the law. And that's what we need because if all we're hearing preached from the pulpit is law, all it's gonna do is awaken sin. That's all it's gonna do. We need to hear the gospel that by no work of the law can we be saved.
Instead, it is the righteousness of Christ that saves us. Believe in him and on his name and you shall be saved. And all of that sin that had come upon us because we failed at every point to try to keep the law of God, Christ paid for on the cross, God's wrath was satisfied and it is through him that we can know peace with God from the inside out.
Lord, we thank you for this teaching and I pray that we would continue to meditate on these things. And if there is any confusion about any of this, that we ask for clarity and by your spirit, you will give it to us.
We also know that wisdom comes by many counselors. So surround us with teachers and people that we can talk to about these things and come to a greater knowledge of the word and become better worshipers of God, knowing that you have rescued us from the law which we could not keep and delivered us into the righteousness of Christ.
So help us no longer try to abide by this written code which we can't do anyway, but instead follow in this new way of the spirit. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. My friends, as you go out sharing the gospel with the world, as you teach it to your children or to your friends, family members, neighbors, you can use the law to show them their sin, but don't just leave it at the law.
Don't tell a person, the Bible says, don't do this and then walk away thinking that you've preached to them good news. That isn't good news because the person has no ability to keep the law. They must hear the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes it.
So share the law, show them their sin and that they have fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by the grace of Christ as a gift through his sacrifice on the cross. That's Romans 3, 23 and 24, essentially.
And remember also Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Show them their sin with the law and then resolve it with the gospel so that they might know salvation and live.
Come back tomorrow as we look at Romans 7, 13 -25. Feel free to read on ahead and then join me here as we continue our study of God's word.
This is a protection of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find us on the web at www .utt .com.